I like Rippon's, um, new haircut? I'm dubious on the music choice. Why not just pick Nessun Dorma instead of an electric guitar version that doesn't suit his lines at all? I just found the entire thing conceptually jarring, as if he was skating to a different song the entire time.

Yay for Machida! I didn't know C2C before his SP, so hats off to him for introducing me to new awesome music. I find his interpretation original and a breath of fresh air. All of his jumps were performed competently. I expect a high 70, low 80 score.

What's also sad is knowing that the Japanese world team (barring injury/severe catastrophic meltdowns) will almost certainly have Takahashi and Hanyu....leaving only one realistic spot for at least three talented men (Machida, Kozuka, Oda) to fight it out.